The Regulator has fined and banned John Leslie, of Battersea and Jeffery Bennett, of Harrow, after they were found to have failed to exercise basic precautions with the promotion of a UCIS scheme.

The FCA found that they did not identify the extent to which their firms were involved in promoting the UCIS and they did not detect the risk that the UCIS were routinely being promoted to ineligible consumers.

During 2005, John Leslie of Leslie & Nuding and Jeffery Bennett of Burlington Associates assisted in the promotion of three Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS) to retail investors in the UK. 

Over 800 people invested a collective £30 million in the three UCIS, all of which later collapsed.

Consequently, both Leslie and Bennett have now been prohibited from holding accountable significant influence functions at any FCA-regulated firm.

Leslie and Bennett also stood to receive fines of £40,000 each, but they settled their cases at an early stage, entitling them to a 30 per cent discount under the FCA’s settlement process. 

Speaking on the announcement, Bill Sillett, Head of FCA retail enforcement, said: “The lax attitude of Leslie and Bennett to their duties was particularly unacceptable when you consider that their firms were involved in promoting the UCIS to thousands of mainstream retail consumers.

“This is another example of why we are toughening the rules around how such schemes can be promoted.”

Any UCIS investors who had dealings with Leslie & Nuding (which also traded as Burlington Funds) and/or Burlington Associates may need to seek independent advice about their rights and options.

In June this year, the FCA published final rules to ban the promotion of UCIS and certain close substitutes to the vast majority of retail investors in the UK.